Natasha Wang, 35, has been crowned the United States Pole Dancing Champion of 2011. Wang, who isn’t a stripper, has no dance background, and works at a PR firm in Los Angeles, came away from last weekend’s 3rd annual national championship with a $5,000 prize for her routine based on the movie Black Swan. (And, being Asian, of course the movie’s story about one’s obsessive drive to be perfect spoke to her.) Her win also includes an all-expense paid trip to participate in the Miss Pole Dance Australia 2012 competition.

You can see part of Wang’s championship routine here in this CBS News report:

Even though the gyrating, the heels, and skimpy outfits some of the contestants employ–not to mention the dudes in the audience creaming their pants–still scream “stripper dancing” to me, this shit looks hard as fuck so who am I to judge? Let it be a sport, skeptics!

But can you imagine the conversation Wang had with her Hardass Asian Mom about her win?

NATASHA: Mom! I won a national competition!!!

HAM: Wah! Congratulations! What kind of competition?

NATASHA: There was a $5,000 prize!

HAM: What kind of gift you going to buy Mommy for Mother’s Day? HAHA just kidding!

But if this was a sport…it would make women’s tennis obsolete D:
I’m a little skeptic about exposing flesh to stick to the pole though, a quick youtube search shows some male pole dancing wearing more then a bikini.

This post reminds me of a Michael Strahan commercial where a man is walking on air while circling a pole.

If women can make pole dancing sexy, elegant, and viable, I think that it’s a worthwhile expedition. And to Natasha’s Hardass Mother, your daughter has an E for excellent in an incredible hobby that makes her more well-rounded than her peers (how many Asian daughters can say I won a dance competition with an inanimate partner?) and highly approachable by men with crusty shorts and possibly big wallets. That and she’s so d*** humble!